9 cheap stay at home kid activities

Are the kids getting antsy and you need new ideas—fast?

When we lived in the desert, the kids often had to stay inside all day, to avoid burning their skin on park equipment and seat belts.

Until the sun started to set, necessity often forced us to entertain them indoors.

Here are a few kid tested, two thumbs up, ways to spend an afternoon–

Best of all, most ideas are about $1 or less.

Don’t assume big kids won’t have fun with these ideas, they might be your most enthusiastic participants!

 

Cheap Fun For Kids Of All Ages

*  Barbasol. Remember those cheap cans of shaving cream? Give the kids a can and a tabletop, they will think of original ways to use it up. They can draw pictures, smear and start again. Practice ABC’s and math facts.

Play games like Tic Tac Toe. See how high of a tower they can make before it starts slipping. Add a few action figures or Lego people and whole new games emerge. I’d recommend putting a plastic tablecloth down first. It didn’t ever damage my table but was challenging to get the “feel” off.

*  Chalk. Bring back the old-school fun of Four Square and Hopscotch. Create drawing challenges! This can be done in the garage with the fan on. and swept off fairly easily.

*  Bubbles. If your kids are small put them in the tub and let them blow! Bubbles are easy to make, but they are so cheap to buy at Dollar stores, that might be the cheapest way to go.

Don’t settle for little wands, take wire and create your own shapes and predict which ones will work best.

*  Marble runs. Do you have marbles lying around the house? Cardboard? Older kids can imagine some pretty awesome  marble runs with a few toilet paper tubes (gift wrap tubes, paper towel tubes, PVC pipe)

Just the game of marbles is fun, and much harder than I remember from my own childhood.

*  Playdough. This is super easy to make and by adding a pack of Kool-Aid  it will smell great too. Give specific challenges when the fun seems to start fading. Who can create__________?

*  Puppets. Let kids create a theater, and either act out their own shows or mimic popular stories. They can use socks or sketched character faces attached to sticks. Puppets can be made out of so many things, and here is a great link to make your own little theater!

* Rock painting.  Find some rocks with flat surfaces and let them paint or draw faces and/or characters. Not sure why simple rocks are so entertaining, but every kid who I’ve done this with really enjoyed it.

*  Silly photography. The library often has books on doing trick photos, and laughter is sure to follow when trying these out!

*  Pretend. This one seems obvious, but always remember how much kids love to imagine scenarios from adult life. My kids used to love to create TV shows, restaurants and (my fave) nail salons. Just the prep work can take an entire hot afternoon.

 

 

I hope you enjoy these ideas when you need a break.

And when the opportunity arises, head back outside to the first available hose…

P.S. Need more ideas for having a fantastic and free summer? Great for older kids too, click here